The Starry Sky Confession
by ScarletRockstar
Summary: Set pre-Dressora. Chopper and Law find themselves separated from the rest of the crew and the doctor has a little break down. How will Law's presence help to comfort the reindeer in the time of need?


**Warnings:** Contains **_spoilers_** for Punk Hazard, marineford and Sabaody Archipelago.

Happy (Very late) Birthday, Re-Rewind!

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**The Starry Sky Confession**

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"LUFFY! ZORO! USOPP!" Chopper cried as he raced along the shore, tripping over small stones. The hysteric tone was worsening every word he screamed desperately in hopes that his friends would eventually hear him. "NAMI! ROBIN! BROOK! FRA-"

"Calm down, Tony-ya." A deep voice sounded behind him, but it was slightly off because of the panting that kept the thick tone company. Chopper came to an abrupt halt and turned to face the shichibukai with watery eyes. His hooves reached the brim of his hat and tugged it to hide his face from view, despite it being dark out and only the moon gave the light.

Trafalgar Law regarded his companion silently as he tried to catch his breath. For the past 4 hours he was forced to chase the reindeer doctor around the outskirts of the entire island due to his panic attack upon realising that the island has split into pieces that drifted apart from each other.

Normally, Law would just sit down and wait for Chopper to calm down because he would eventually tire and drop half-unconscious to the ground. But he was obliged to try and calm the doctor down, because he was forced to promise his ally. Nami cornered him when she heard that Law and Chopper were setting out to find medical herbs, and made him promise that he would look after Chopper because he was naive and still very young.

This was the only reason why Law ended up chasing the small zoan-type devil fruit user. If he didn't, the poor boy would probably try to swim to the island parts that drifted apart, despite being a hammer in the water.

Or he would just end up deeper in the forest which showed some dangerous foes lurking in it's shadows. Law observed that much, so he came to the conclusion that he would listen to Nami and take care of the doctor.

He kind of didn't want to get on the Straw hat pirates bad side.

A sniffle tore him from his thoughts and he sighed, undeniably annoyed at having to take care of someone who acted like a little, innocent child - which Chopper was, to a certain extent. He crouched down, his Nodachi digging into his shoulder so he set her down carefully on the sand before raising his tattooed hand and flipping Chopper's hat.

The watery eyes that were pouring tears, widened slightly and shifted so they stared right into Law's deep pool pits. He saw fear and loneliness. Of course, that was natural. Chopper wasn't with his friends and wasn't all that fond of him after the incident with him _slicing_ up the children - even if this did get sorted out after Chopper spoke to the children. Law knew that the reindeer respected him and that eased him enough to think that he could calm him down before figuring out a way to get back to the rest of the straw hats.

"Law..." Chopper whined. "THE ISLANDS SPLIT APART!" He cried out, horrified.

"I know." The surgeon of death muttered, his hand resting on top of Chopper's hat and it was big enough to take up the entire hat. His fingers curled around the fabric of the hat and he forced Chopper to look at him, since he was trying to jerk his head away and out of view once again. "The islands split apart but that doesn't mean we got separated from them. We can get back to them soon enough."

Chopper had uncertainty swimming in his eyes but he slowly nodded, sniffing. The tears were coming to an abrupt stop but the sadness never left. Chopper flopped down on the sand and dug his hooves through the warm golden grains, hoping to find comfort in them. Law sat beside him, his hand retreating as it was hovering in the air. It fell onto his lap and he stared at the reindeer with a blank expression that he usually wore.

Chopper was still tensed, worried and seemed lonely.

"Tony-ya, what's the matter?" Trafalgar Law asked, deciding that he should have the boy let his feelings out instead of being a time bomb, and exploding on him later. He preferred to have the feelings come out gradually not all at once. He wasn't about to go chasing him down the island again, due to some hysterics.

"Chopper is fine." He whispered and dug his hooves out from the sand, placing them on his lap. He looked to the side. His lips forming into a sad frown and his eyes narrowed just slightly, but Law caught that change. "Just call me Chopper." He added.

"Alright, _Chopper_-ya." It sounded weird on his tongue, addressing someone by their respective name but if that helped the situation then he would be willing to do so for the time being. "Tell me what's wrong." He pressed, though his tone was gentler, not as harsh as he is when scolding Luffy for his stupid and childish antics.

"Well..." Chopper hesitated but the stern look he got made him shiver and continue on. "Do you know that Straw hats temporarily disbanded for two years?" He stopped and when Law nodded with a frown he took a deep breath and continued. "It was never planned. We were supposed to meet up in three days time and set sail for the new world."

"Why didn't you?" Law asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is it because of the war?"

"No. We didn't know about the w-war at that time. When the admiral appeared along with that man that fired lasers, we thought that we would lose Zoro and for good. H-he was nearly killed." Chopper's lips trembled and tears swelled up in his eyes once again and Law looked up to the starry sky, with the full moon smiling down at him, the stars blinking.

It was hard to imagine someone like Roronoa Zoro being near death.

"Old man Rayleigh saved him but then that bear man appeared and he made Zoro disappear. Everyone, one by one, were being taken from us and we could just helplessly watch. I can't remember much after Zoro was sent away but when I woke up, I was all alone." He sniffed, wiping his eyes with his hooves.

"I assume Mugiwara-ya only found out about his brothers execution when you got separated?" Law asked and Chopper nodded.

"I met Ace and we spent some time travelling the deserts of Alabasta together. He was a nice person and to think that Luffy lost someone so important hurt a lot. The fact that I couldn't be there for him made it worse. Then he gave us all a message that we're not meeting up in 3 days but in 2 years."

"That tattoo from the newspaper on his arm, was a message to you? Now I understand it." Law mused, his eyebrows creasing. "But if he lost his brother, wouldn't it be only natural for him to want to seek comfort in the arms of his friends? Why did he decide on disbanding the crew for 2 years?"

"I believe that he didn't want to lose anyone any-more, so he wanted us to train and become stronger." Chopper shrugged, groaning at the tears that wouldn't stop falling down his cheeks. "I just don't want to be separated from him and my friends ever again!"

They grew silent after that remark, both watching the waves crush against the shore, the unsettling and ever-changing sea that held many mysteries and hiding many dangerous. Chopper managed to pull his hat back over his eyes from the embarrassment and the tears that wouldn't stop falling. Law's posture was relaxed although the constant sniffing and hiccuping wasn't the most pleasant sound to listen to.

"Nee, Law..." Chopper whispered, after a few minutes of silence, tugging at the sleeve of Law's jumper. The shichibukai looked down and blinked at the heart wrenching expression Chopper wore. Chopper was shuffling around the sand, the nervous demeanour as clear as Luffy's childishness. "Is it all right if I hug you? I mean - Zoro let's me hug his head and Robin and Nami let me sleep with them from time to time!" He rushed to explanations when he saw the murderous look Law gave him. In Punk Hazard, Law was appalled when the small reindeer was attached to his hat and now he's asking for a hug? That was clearly out of question, but he had to try.

Awkward arms curled around Chopper's body and he gasped in surprise as they pulled him into a lap. Law smashed his face against his chest and didn't let him look up from the awkward and not-hug-like embrace. But he realised that the man tried his best to comfort him and so he relaxed in the arms and smiled, snuggling closer to Law's chest.

"Don't tell anyone about this, Chopper-ya." He warned, his voice cold unlike the warmth of his skin.

Chopper nodded against Law's unzipped hoodie, that was brushing the side of his face and he felt sudden sleepiness tugging a his conciousness.

**-#-#-**

"CHOPPEEEEEEEER!" A shout pulled Chopper from his comfortable slumber and he looked at the hands still wrapped around him then the blue sky above him and Law's soundly sleeping face that shifted when Luffy's voice broke the peaceful silence. He saw dots in the far end of the beach and his eyes widened when his vision became much clearer.

"CHOPPER!" This time he was sure he heard Nami and sure enough orange flashed and he jolted upright, springing from Law's embrace and tripping over one of his arms. He fell into the sand face first and he could feel Law shift behind him as he was startled into full awareness by his companion.

"LUFFY!" Chopper cried from happiness, lunging at his captain who was within metres from him, the others following. He jumped into Luffy's arms and the raven-haired boy laughed, hugging his doctor and circling on the sand. "I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!"

"Me too!" Luffy agreed. "I was so shocked when the island split apart but I was sure that you'd be fine!"

"Yeah! Law was a nice companion!" Chopper hummed happily and soon enough found himself hugging Zoro's head who grunted in disapproval but made no attempt to remove the little reindeer from his head.

"It was a rather intriguing phenomenon, watching the island split into three separate parts." Robin mused standing next to Law who was standing up and brushing the dirt from his trousers. He picked Nodachi from the ground beside him and rested her on his shoulder. He acknowledged Robin's comment but didn't respond to it, watching Chopper shriek when Zoro and Sanji got into a shoving competition, Luffy laughing at them.

"Well, I'm glad that Chopper seems fine." Nami appeared beside Law, after scolding Zoro and Sanji. "Is it just me or did he jump out of your hands when we were running to you?" She smirked and he knew that she saw exactly what she did.

"No, he was sleeping beside me. That's all." He lied but her smirk said something else, so did Robin's.

Curse her for her devil fruit ability.

"ALL RIGHT, EVERYONE! LET'S HEAD BACK TO SUNNY AND SET SAIL!" Luffy shouted and they cheered in agreement, following the captain to where they anchored sunny.

Law's eyes met Chopper's who smiled at him in gratitude.

Law smiled to himself.

Maybe the alliance wasn't going to be _too_ bad.

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**Notes:**

**1. **I only watch the anime, so I have no idea what their journey to dressora looks like, since in the anime they haven't left Punk Hazard, yet.

**2. **Kin'emon, Momonosuke, Brook, Franky and Usopp all stayed on the sunny while the others went out.

**3. **Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Robin and Nami were together separated from the island were Law and Chopper were as well as the island part where Thousand Sunny was anchored.

**4.** Yes, Law and Chopper are OOC. deal with it. I wanted to write something about Law and Chopper, and the idea of Chopper being afraid of another separation struck me, suddenly. I think it makes sense, though. Luffy and the rest were his real friends apart from Kureha and Hiluluk so it only makes sense that the separation took a massive toll on him.

**5.** Robin's devil fruit ability; Oh! those eyes and ears that can appear and watch/listen whenever they want.

**6.** About the island they anchored on; it splits into three parts in the afternoons and becomes one once again sometime during the night. The process repeats every night, but the island drift farthest apart during a full moon.

That's all, any questions?

Just PM me, I don't bite!

Or review, that will be greatly appreciated.


End file.
